In many instances of electronic circuits, correct operation thereof requires the operating voltage to be monitored. If a permissible operating voltage range is exceeded or undershot, a malfunction signal is then produced and forwarded or the entire circuit is shutdown. Today, there are increasingly circuits which operate for different operating voltages. The permissible operating range is regularly given as a percentage of a rated voltage. Such a rated voltage naturally has to have a certain variance. If a variance of 10% is permitted, for example, then in a 5-volt range the voltage can vary between 4.5 and 5.5 volts. Relevant standards such as ETSI, GSM, ISO provide, by way of example, that a chip operating in the 5; 3; 1.8 V range is now permitted to have the entire voltage range from 5.5 to 1.62 volts. Accordingly, voltage changes, “Voltage spikes”, over a very high range are possible in the externally applied voltage supply. Large voltage variations in turn can result in circuits operating incorrectly, which is in turn a problem.
Accordingly, there is a perceived need for providing a voltage monitoring arrangement in which it is possible to prevent the occurrence of large voltage variations using simple means.